United Leasing Championship Underway at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh

Golfers from around the world have converged on Newburgh’s beautiful Victoria National Golf Club for the second annual United Leasing Championship on the Web.com Tour.

Over 150 golfers from the United States, Argentina, New Zealand, and Japan among others, including last year’s champion, Peter Tomasulo of Long Beach, California teed off this morning at 6:40am in an attempt to win the $99,000 cash prize.

(Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

Arguably, the most recognized name in the field is John Daly. A former PGA Tour player who took the golf world by storm after turning pro in 1987 with his ability to blast the ball off the tee. His unconventional, this-is-who-I-am-deal-with-it attitude flew in the face of the buttoned up, Country Club persona the game had been labeled with for years. Daly was, and still is, just a good ol’ boy from Arkansas who also happens to be really good at golf. It’s that combination that has made him a fan favorite for years.

Winning the tournament won’t be easy for Daly or anyone else in the field, as Victoria National is known nationwide as being a tough course. After opening in 1998, course architect, Tom Fazio, was quoted as saying, “It’s U.S. Open-quality now…If the wind blew, it’d be too hard.”

Ranked 47th on the 2013-2014 Golf Digest Top 100 Courses in America, the course sits on old coal mining ground abandoned years ago by Peabody Coal, designed to follow the natural curves left behind by years of mining. Fairways now sit where massive trucks once drove in and out of the mines, loading and unloading tons of coal day in and day out for years.

Having walked the course as a spectator years ago when it hosted a senior amateur tournament, I can tell you first-hand it is a beautiful course, and something the Southwestern Indiana community can be proud of.

Daily spectator tickets for the event are available for $10 each and can only be purchased at the course.

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